You can’t ignore them since they change the pronunciation (most of the time) and the meaning. They are like real letters.

• Some words just have letters with an accent so you have to learn and write them like that:

du = some; dû = due (pronunciation doesn’t change)

a = has; à = to/in/at/etc. depending on the context (pronunciation doesn’t change)

mais = but; maïs = corn (pronunciation changes)

• The past participle for the first group verbs always ends with a -é:

manger = to eat

je mange = I eat/I’m eating

j’ai mangé = I have eaten

The pronunciation between mange and mangé is not the same.